DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 22 (MExN): Uttar Pradesh beat Nagaland by 87 runs in Nagaland’s 4th match at the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy 2023.
Uttar Pradesh piled up a massive 188 runs target for Nagaland in the stipulated 20 overs with Rinku Singh scoring a brilliant 58 runs knock in 34 balls which was studded with four 4's and three huge 6's. Abhishek Goswami (36 runs), Nitish Rana (32 runs), Sameer Rizvi (26 runs) and Shiva Singh (18 runs) were the other notable run scorers for the UP team.
For the Nagaland bowling unit Karan Tewatiya looked good and managed to scalp 2 wickets early on but in his last over Rinku Singh in his elite form took him for an agonising 27 runs. Khrievitso Kense (4overs-2wickets, 18runs and 9 dots) was the star performer for Nagaland with the ball as he picked up the dangerous duo of Nitish Rana and Abishek Goswami and was also engaged in the crucial runout of Sameer Rizvi who looked in sublime form.
In the run chase it was a disappointment for Nagaland as they could manage to put up only 100 runs on the board. The two openers Joshua Ben Ozukum (15 runs) and Sedezhalie Rupreo (18 runs) looked good in the beginning and were able to deal with a couple of boundaries from the elite UP bowlers in the form of Bhuvneshwar Kumar however it was Prashant Veer, the Impact player for Uttar Pradesh who had a memorable outing picking up 3 wickets in 3 overs, conceded only 7 runs and delivered 14 dot balls with an economy rate of 2.33. Jonathan Rongsen (15 runs) wicket was crucial as he was dismissed for LBW for what could have been a very close call. Later Jaganath Sinivas fought alone losing the battle scoring 31 runs off 17 balls but it was all too little too late. Nagaland will next play Karnataka on 23rd October at Maharana Pratap College Ground, Dehradun.
